


Return

by kate7h



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: F/M, Gen, POV Armin Arlert, POV Mikasa Ackerman, Shiganshina Trio, Titan Eren Yeager, battle of trost
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-03
Updated: 2016-03-03
Packaged: 2018-05-24 11:26:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,086
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6152179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kate7h/pseuds/kate7h
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The moments in between when Eren comes out of his titan-form for the first time, and when he wakes up.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Return

**Author's Note:**

> Written for a request on tumblr: @shingekinokelli “Fic request: Eremika w/ or w/o Armin during the time Eren is unconscious after being pulled from his titan the first time. I gotta know what happens during those several minutes. Yay for 150!”

Armin wasn't far behind Mikasa after she swung down to the disintegrating mess of the titan-killing titan. He saw what she saw, and for a few moments, he didn't dare believe it. _Eren? Inside the titan?_ It didn't make any sense.

He died. He was eaten by the titan that should've taken Armin instead. He'd lost both an arm and a leg, and then was swallowed whole into the belly of the beast. Eren was dead, gone, like Armin's parents and grandfather, and he'd never see him again. So how was Armin looking at him now? How was it even possible? Armin shot his line into the titan's flesh, pulling himself up to where Mikasa was.

As he got closer, he heard the unfamiliar sound of Mikasa sobbing like the world had ended. Sobbing like he'd never heard, and he'd seen her cry before. His heart dropped down to his toes. _Was Eren dead? Had he died in this mess before they were even able to rejoice that he was somehow, miraculously alive?_

"Mikasa!" He cried, his voice shaking as he pulled himself up to where she was. "Mikasa, what happened?"

She didn't respond other than her heart wrenching sobs. Armin pulled himself the rest of the way up, looking closer at his friend who'd been eaten right in front of his very eyes. He reached out, but hesitated. He didn't want to feel the cold flesh of the corpse of his best friend.

He choked on his own tears as he looked back to Mikasa, weeping still with Eren wrapped up in her arms, her whole body trembling as she held him against her. It hurt to see her break down like this, but it really wasn't surprising. Mikasa loved Eren with every ounce of her heart, and that was plain as day from the moment Armin had met her. Plain for anyone but Eren to see.

"M-Mikasa…" Armin got out again. "Is- is he…?"

Mikasa continued to cry, her eyes clenched tight against the torrent of tears which cascaded down her face. She lifted her head though, enough to shake it against Eren's hair. "He's alive, he's alive…"

She buried her face in his neck again, hugging him closer, weeping into him.

Armin felt like a dam had broke inside him, relief, unbelievable, impossible relief making the tears fall from his own eyes as he reached out, putting a hand on Eren's head. He was warm, almost feverishly so, but they could worry about that later. Trembling, he knelt down beside Mikasa and wrapped his arms around both of them, crying with Mikasa at this miracle that had somehow brought Eren back to them.

"Hey you guys," Armin heard Reiner say from above them. He looked up to see Reiner, Bertholdt, Annie, and Jean were right there. He hadn't even noticed them coming up.

"We should probably get off the ground if we don't wanna get eaten."

Armin sat back, wiping his face. He was right, titans were coming back. This wasn't the time or place to think through what exactly had happened here. He stood, tugging at Mikasa's jacket, but she didn't respond, her sobs continuing, muffled in Eren's shoulder.

He leaned down, shaking her. "Mikasa, we gotta go. Let's him to up the tower."

Again, she didn't respond.

Armin glanced up at Reiner again. Reiner sighed, looking down at Eren with a hard expression, then grabbed Eren around the middle, hoisting him up onto his shoulder. Mikasa let herself be pulled up with him, still clinging to Eren's shirt, though she couldn't keep holding on when Reiner engaged his gear, hefting Eren up to the top of the tower. Mikasa didn't say much more than a whimper as she followed.

"What the hell is going on?" Jean muttered.

Armin shook his head, feeling his emotions make his throat tight. He had no idea, it didn't make any sense! He pushed it aside to climb the building, following the rest.

Reiner had let Eren go, releasing him back into Mikasa's arms. She just continued to cry, (although it was more keening than sobs), holding him like she had on the ground. Armin stood back with the rest. They were above the immediate danger, so he let himself think about what had actually happened here.

 _Eren…_ he was there, living and breathing and _whole._ His arm and leg intact and now that Armin was standing back, taking this in, the more it made less and less sense. Eren was devoured by a titan, then he was the titan, had healed like a titan. How was it even possible? What did it mean for humanity? What did it mean for Eren?

The moment flashed before his mind, Eren sitting in the titan's mouth, his eyes bright with that fire he had, his hand reaching, reaching….

Armin gasped, his eyes filling with tears again as he moved forward. With shaking fingers, he picked up Eren's new hand, weaving his fingers between Eren's.

"Eren… what in heaven's name happened to you?" He muttered, his voice quivering as he too began to cry.

 

* * *

 

Mikasa was able to calm herself after a few minutes of sitting up on top of the tower. She was still shaking though, nearly unable to believe what she saw right before her eyes. Eren had died, she'd accepted that. He'd been gone, and she was just starting to tell herself she would live with that, that she _had to_.

Then suddenly, he was alive again.

It was like some hazy, strange nightmare, this whole entire day. A terrible nightmare where everything she loved was wrenched from her, then thrown back at her again like some sort of massive joke from the universe. In other words, Mikasa was slouched against Eren's unconscious body, completely and utterly exhausted. Armin was probably holding them both up as he embraced her and Eren from the side.

"You mean…. Eren did all of this?" Mikasa heard Jean say. She glanced up, seeing him look out off the tower.

He was right. Eren… he'd turned into a titan and killed dozens of other titans. He'd saved her life, yet again, when she had given up on living. She squeezed tighter to him, pressing her face into the side of his neck. He didn't feel any different, look or smell any different. So how had he been able to do this?

"We should probably report back," Annie said flatly, looking down at the mess Eren had created.

Mikasa nodded, pulling her face back. Her breathing was calmer now, tears no longer falling down her face. She'd actually very much surprised herself with how she'd fallen apart. She hoped her comrades would have the decency to never mention it to her again, or she'd be likely to have the decency to break their teeth.

"Armin, help me with him," She murmured as she lifted Eren by his underarms.

Armin sniffled, nodding as her looped Eren's arm over his shoulder. Mikasa did the same with his left arm. He was light, even as he hung limply between them. Mikasa wrapped her arm around his waist, pulling him against her to support most of his weight. Armin was still trembling so Mikasa figured she could carry the load. Honestly, she just wanted to sit and hold Eren longer, forever and never let go, but the battle wasn't over. Trost was still overwhelmed and they needed to figure out what all _this_ was, Eren's strange new… powers. She'd been with him every single day for the past six years, how could this have happened without her knowing? What had even happened? _When_?

They followed behind the rest, and Mikasa wasn't blind to the nervous glances from Jean and Bertholdt. She appreciated Annie and Reiner as they pressed on, keeping their eyes firmly ahead. Looking at Eren like that wasn't going to give any sort of explanation.

"We should take the lift down and meet up with the garrison below," Reiner said, turning his face long enough to see Mikasa and Armin nod back.

"Right."

As it descended, Mikasa could tell something was off, wrong. Soldiers were stationed around the corner where the lift landed, their attention at them as they stepped off the platform. Mikasa clung tighter to Eren, feeling the thick tension in the air. There were way too many hands resting on weapons, fingers itching to draw, their fearful eyes directly upon Eren.

"Cadets!" The general said from the center.

"Sir!" The rest of their group replied with a salut. She and Armin abstained, continuing to hold up Eren. Hackles rising, she watched the general's face, his sunken eyes full of dread. He'd seen what Eren had done, they all had, and they were terrified. Terrified people did not think very clearly, or respond very well to something they couldn't understand. Mikasa grit her teeth, expecting the worst.

"You are aware of the situation, are you not?" The general shouted.

"To what are you referring, sir?" Armin asked, probably for them to say it outloud. There's no way he didn't see exactly what this situation was.

The general pointed his finger at Eren, as if he were a child tattling on another child. "Not ten minutes ago, this… _boy_ … emerged from the nape of the neck of a fifteen-meter titan. This boy was a titan, was he not?"

Mikasa glowered up at the general, but said nothing. Armin glanced around, his eyes nervous. "I- I don't know to the full extent of what happened and how, sir!"

The general frowned, that cowardly fear still set in his eyes as he squaked at them. "Move away from the titan boy now, all of you!"

Jean, Reiner, Bertholdt, and Annie stared at Eren, then sent Mikasa and Armin a glance, before moving towards the rest of the garrison. Mikasa felt Armin's arm tighten around Eren's waist. She glanced to the side so see his face. He looked nearly as scared as the rest of the soldiers surrounding them, but it wasn't the fear _of_ Eren in his eyes. Mikasa was feeling the same. Who knew what this terrified general would do to Eren in a moment of panic. She moved her hand to squeeze his momentarily before turning her attention back up.

"I said move away from him!" the general shouted.

"What do you intend on doing to him?" Mikasa asked, glaring up at him.

The general visibly trembled, looking back at the others who had been with them. "You are dismissed. Speak a word of what has transpired, and you will all be court martialled!"

With another salut, they moved to fallback with the rest of the cadets. Before climbing, Annie turned and sent Mikasa a look. Mikasa didn't really understand entirely what she'd meant by it, but she nodded anyway.

She turned her attention back to the general. "What do you intend on doing to Eren?"

The general breathed a long breath in through his nostrils. "He is a titan and a danger to everyone within these walls! My decision will be what's best for this people!"

In a second, Mikasa had dropped Eren, leaving Armin to hold him up. She stepped forward, her face lowered as she slowly pulled her swords out. In response, the entire legion did likewise, pointing them at her as she stood protectively between them and Eren.

"You will not harm him."

With wide eyes and trembling fingers, the general pointed at her. "I command you to stand down, cadet!"

"I will not," Mikasa replied, her voice low.

"M-Mikasa…" Armin whispered behind her, but she didn't respond. She may have gone too far; she may be court martialled for this, but she didn't care. If Eren was killed by a fearful, panicking general, than all that was for naught anyway.

"I am your superior officer! My orders are to protect this people and the walls that guard them! Your insolence is not only endangering this city, but all of those protected behind the walls! Stand down now!"

Mikasa felt her jaw clench, her fingers gripping tighter around her blades. "I will never let anyone hurt Eren."

The courtyard was silent. Every shuffle of feet, every movement of weapon echoed in the walled corner. Shock and fear seeped through the air like a plague. No matter how this went down, it would not be pretty. She felt her lip curl, her shoulders hunched defensively, stance ready.

 _I just got him back_ , she thought, resolute. _I won't lose him again_.

**Author's Note:**

> And then Eren wakes up and everything escalates dramatically.
> 
> Thank you for reading! Comments are always and forever loved and appreciated!


End file.
